Freedom Fields Hospital was an acute hospital in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

that closed in 1998. The site formerly occupied by the hospital has now been largely redeveloped for residential use.

History

The facility was designed by Arthur and Dwelly as a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

and built on a site to the east of the junction of Longfield Place and Greenbank Road between 1852 and 1858. Enlargements included a major expansion of the medical facilities between 1907 and 1910. It became the Greenbank Infirmary in 1909 and the Plymouth City Hospital in 1930. The building was bombed several times in attacks on the areas surrounding

Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. One young girl was killed in a ward block on the night of 13 January 1941 and, shortly after a new maternity block had been opened by Lord Astor, four nurses, nineteen babies and one mother were killed in that block on the night of 20 March 1941. After it joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948, it was renamed Freedom Fields Hospital. Renal services transferred to the new

Derriford Hospital Derriford Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Plymouth, England. The hospital serves Plymouth and nearby areas of Devon and Cornwall. It also provides tertiary cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and renal transplant surgery for the whol ...

in 1982, maternity services transferred there in 1994 and the remaining services transferred in February 1998. The site has now been largely redeveloped for residential use.

References

External links

Freedom Fields - Plymouth Archives 1999
{{Authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1858 Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Devon Workhouses in Devon Defunct hospitals in England Hospitals in Devon 1858 establishments in England 1998 disestablishments in England